The Syllabus: The ring is the thing

Got to see for myself at the Insperity Augusta State Invite the team chemistry that the Longhorns possess. Suffice it to say, they're a pretty united ballclub, even as their top two players (Dylan Frittelli and Jordan Spieth) battle it out for not just the No. 1 spot in the lineup for in the country. Only thing that might get in the way for this team is if the pressure of expectations starts to loom large, but I'm not sure that will be an issue with this specific group.

__The victory at the ASU/Thunderbird was the Golden Bears record fourth in 2011-12 and their first ever in Tempe. Most impressive was the fact that Cal shot the tournament best round of 10 under over the final 18 holes to chase down San Diego State. It's been eight years since Cal won their lone NCAA title, but this squad reminds me of that bunch. __

With the Razorbacks' one-stroke triumph at the All-American, that's seven team titles for Brad McMakin's squad. If that doesn't earn him a finalist spot for national coach-of-the-year honors, I don't know what it takes. Meanwhile I'll save you some time looking it up yourself ... Arkansas last won the SEC title in 1995. Competition will be tough, but this is their best chance since then.

Eight top-three finishes now for the Tigers after their performance at the Gary Koch Invitational highlights the consistency this group has displayed this season. Nick Clinard's team are always in the hunt, which is critical as it focuses on SECs.

A ho-hum 12-stroke victory at the Ping/ASU Invitational was the fifth of the season for the Bruins and the 45th team title earned under coach Carrie Forsyth. Meanwhile__Ani Gulugian__'s share of medalist honors made her the third "new" winner this season for UCLA.

A victory at the Liz Murphey gives the Crimson Tide momentum heading into SECs. The only hitch is the three-week break between tournaments. Still, finding a more motivated team to avenge last year's finish to the season is going to be a tall task.

The Trojans margin for error is slim, given that UCLA will be in the field in at least their next two starts. An 81 from Sophia Popov, as was the case in the second round at the Ping/ASU, then is going to be hard to overcome. The good news is that such a score is extreme rare from a player of her caliber (her previous career high at USC was a 77). Says here we don't see that again.

A ninth-place showing is not the finish the Tigers were looking for at the Ping/ASU event, but came without Austin Ernst in the lineup. It's going to be really interesting which LSU team shows up for the SEC Championship and beyond. This is a group that has the potential to win its final three tournaments, but could finish sixth in them all just as easily.

If this was a horse race, the announce would start to raise his voice and say "and on the outside, the Lady Vols are making a late surge." The two wins at the LSU Invite and Bryan National (in a playoff) in their last three starts are impressive, but whether Judi Pavon's team has enough to keep racing to the tape as the post-season approaches remains to be seen. Working in their favor is the fact that__Erica Popson__ wasn't the low scorer in the final round at Bryan Park (that was Kaitlyn Rohrback, hinting that this group isn't Popson and the four pips.

It's becoming easier to list the TV shows that former Georgia golfer Bubba Watson and his new green jacket haven't appeared on this week than it is those that they have.

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WHAT TO WATCH FOR__

The first marquee conference championship begins today with the ACC women's title up for grabs at Sedgefield CC in Greensboro, N.C., and frankly I'm pretty excited. If you're looking for a specific prediction here on who will claim the championship rings up for grabs, then I say go with Duke and the Blue Devils' Lindy Duncan (I'm more confident in the later than the former, by the way). Meanwhile, I'll put together a more complete look at the championship season over the weekend on the blog.

This time of year always fascinates me, perhaps because I'm a bit of an anthropologist at heart. I enjoy watching athletes to see how they respond when the stakes rise. Inevitably some players struggle with this, and writing about their tribulations is probably the toughest part of my job. But watching the players who thrive is undoubtedly the best part. What never gets old for me about covering college and amateur golf is seeing the pure joy of someone achieving a goal, often accomplishing something that frankly they weren't 100 percent positive they could (despite all talk about "believing in the process").

It happened last year at NCAAs with LSU freshman__ Austin Ernst__. Sure she was talented, but to come through and perform at the most critical moment of the season was something that wasn't a given just because she was talented. Something else has to occur, something where talent intersects with opportunity and is not detoured by pressure. When everything breaks right, it's like listening to beautiful music. And for some reason, I get the feeling we're all going to enjoy the playlist that we're about to hear over the next five weeks.

I'm not guaranteeing that UCLA's__Patrick Cantlay__ is going to win Western Intercollegiate, but I think we're going to see the "old" Cantlay again this week at Pasatiempo and likely beyond. The tournament will be played an Alister Mackenzie design, an architect that Cantlay became familiar last week at the Masters. More importantly at Augusta National GC, I think Cantlay became recharged. His play wasn't standout, even though he earned low amateur honors, but the setting was something that Cantlay needed to get his 2012 kickstarted. The championship environment is something that I think fuels the Long Beach, Calif., native. No one close to Cantlay will say it so succinctly, but having had the Masters on the horizon the past few months has probably been a distraction; the anticipation of the event became the focus as the run up to April, with everything else being pushed aside. Having gotten through the Masters, and essentially thrived, Cantlay can take that experience with him through the remainder of the college season. (Sure you could argue all the same distractions lie ahead with the U.S. Open at Olympic Club, but having played at Congressional last summer takes the stress level down a notch.)

I'm reminded of a saying from another sport: Big-time players step up in big-time events. Cantlay is definitely the former, and we're likely to see the later in the next few weeks.

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